Shadows Within by Timo Burnham

Author:Timo Burnham [Burnham, Timo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter　21

Ryu suppressed a yawn with his hand, blinking a few times. Last night had been filled with nightmares of his family’s burning hut. Their cold, dead bodies stared right at him, mouths open, calling out to him from beyond the grave. The dream had awoken him over and over until just before sunrise he’d finally given up and begun practicing with his swords.

Now that he was sitting in the central building trying to meditate with the others, he found himself slipping back towards sleep. He reached up and felt the shell hanging from his neck, his mind drifting back to memories of him and Amira. The times when they walked the beach, with Ryu trying to build up the courage to hold her hand. Looking back now, it was laughable that he’d been afraid of such a simple thing. At least, it would have been laughable, if not for the pain. With the passing of time, it had turned to more of a dull ache deep in his heart. It wasn’t leaving. It would never leave. It was just slowly becoming a part of who he was. On one hand, he felt a certain relief that the intensity was fading, but on the other hand, that pain was all he had left.

No, not all. He held the shell tightly in his hand.

Ryu shut his eyes tight then opened them, trying to fight the drowsiness. His gaze drifted to his left, stopping as he saw Kala. She looked to be doing a much better job than him—her eyes were closed and face relaxed while her hands rested in her lap. He studied that streak of white that interrupted her otherwise black hair. It wasn’t the greying color of an aging woman, it was pure, perfect white. If anything, it seemed to exude life and youth.

Has Kala always had that? He hadn’t asked, assuming that she would find his questions annoying, just like everything else he did. His eyes dropped from her hair, down to the pale skin of her cheek, then further down to the line of her jaw. He followed the line down to her chin, then up slightly, stopping on her lips.

“Ryu!”

Ryu almost fell off his cushion, his heart suddenly thumping in his chest.

“You don’t seem focused,” Grandmaster Djukomo said. “At least, not focused on the right thing.” The old man was standing over him, a scowl on his face.

“I was just…”

“Just staring at Kala,” Djukomo said, much more loudly than he needed to.

Ryu winced, feeling his neck flush with heat.

From the far side of Kala, Bin shifted and fixed him with a hard look.

“I wasn’t staring. I was just distracted, thinking.” Ryu risked one more glance at Kala. Her eyes were now open just the slightest as she held back a smirk.

“Good thing I’m here to help you refocus, then,” Djukomo said.

Yes. Good thing you are here. Such a good thing… Ryu wanted to be anywhere else in that moment, but forced himself to take a deep breath.

“Thank you for the reminder, grandmaster.

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